Sectors of the Industry
For the purpose of negotiating the collective agreements in the construction industry, the labour relations system defines four specific sectors. The Act Respecting Labour Relations, Vocational Training, and Workforce Management in the Construction Industry (Act R-20), which sets the rules for this labour relations system, determines the employer and union associations mandated and the measures required for negotiation.
The four sectors are: industrial, institutional and commercial, civil engineering and roads, and residential.
Industrial sector
The industrial sector includes the construction of buildings, including facilities and equipment physically attached to these buildings or not, used mainly for an economic activity involving exploitation of mineral resources, transformation of raw materials, and production of goods.
Institutional and commercial sector
The institutional and commercial sector includes the construction of buildings, including facilities and equipment physically attached to these buildings or not, used mainly for institutional and commercial purposes, as well as all structures that cannot be included in the residential, industrial, and civil engineering and roads sectors.
Civil engineering and roads sector
The civil engineering and roads sector includes construction of works of general interest for public or private use, including facilities, equipment, and buildings physically attached to these works or not, notably construction of roads, aqueducts, sewers, bridges, dams, electricity lines, and natural-gas pipelines.
Residential sector
The residential sector includes the construction of buildings, including facilities and equipment physically attached to these buildings or not, in which more than 85% of the area, excluding parking spaces, is used for habitation and the number of floors above the ground, excluding all parts of the basement and seen from all sides of the building or group of buildings, does not exceed six in the case of new buildings or eight in other cases.
- Heavy residential sector
The new construction of any building in the residential sector having more than 4 floors above ground level, seen from at least one side of the building and excluding parking spaces, also including the modification, renovation, maintenance and repair of existing buildings having more than 6 floors.
- Light residential sector
The construction of any building in the residential sector that does not fall under the heavy residential construction category.